PART VIII: Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam at Lord RanganAthar Temple at Pomona , NY : Swamy Desikan's Taathparya RathnAvaLi:Fifth SlOkam

[Guest guest]

Wednesady , Dec 19 : " Aazhi-Mazhaik-KaNNA " ThiruppAvai Dinam

 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

SrI:

 

Dear RasikAs of Swamy NammAzhwAr's dhivya prabhandhams:

 

On this Fourth ThiruppAavi day , adiyEn will continue with

the Fifth SlOkam of DTR:

 

aadhou SaarIrakArTa-kramam-iha visEdham visathir-vakthi saagrA

samkshEpOsou vibhAgam praTayathi cha ruchAm-chAru-pAThOpapannam

samyak GitAnubhaddham sakalam-anugatham Saama-saakhA-sahasram

samlakshyam saabhidhEyairTajurapi sathakai:bhAthyaTarvArasaisccha

 

(meaning): Swamy NammAzhwAr ThiruvAimozhi instructs us

on the inner meanings of Vedic doctrines just as IthihAsams

and Saathvika PurANams do .It goes however beyond them to give

us the meanings of Upanishads (Veda Siras) as elaborated

correctly in SaarIraka Saasthram (Utthara mImAmsai) .

Swamy Desikan points here (during this introductory stage of DTR )

that Swamy NammAzhwAr's ThiruvAimozhi will be all about

the celebration of The Supreme Being (ParamAthmA) defined

precisely by the Brahma Soothrams of VyAsa BhagavAn (and

elaborated by AchArya RaamAnuja in SrI BhAshyam following

the foot steps of His PoorvAchAryAs) .He also points out

that ThiruvAimozhi is one step higher than Brahma Soothrams

since each of the Paasurams spell out clearly one GuNam of

the Lord and the last paasuram one dacad(pathikam )

summarizes the MahA GuNam underlying the guNams covered by

individual Paasurams of that Pathikam . The sathakams (Patthu)

take up the next hierarchy among the GuNams of the paasurams

of the ten pathikams .The whole of ThiruvAimozhi gives us

the supreme boon of bringing the Lord with His Divine Consort

right before us ( SaTha ripu PhaNithI: PrathyakshayEnna:

prathiniyatha RamA sanidhAnam NidhAnam) since ThiruvAimozhi is

DhvayArta VivaraNam.

 

Additional comments based on UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

*********************************************************

Swamy NammAzhwAr has blessed us with four Prabhandhams.

The first one is Thiruviruttham , where the central message

is that SamsAram and its afflictions are intolerable.

In the second Prabhandham , ThiruvAsiriyam , Svaroopa-Roopa-

GuNa vibhUthis of Sriman NaarAyaNan are brought to the fore.

The third prabhandham , Periya ThiruvandhAthi reveals Swamy

NammAzhwArs' intense desire to enjoy more and more Bhagavath

anubhavam and engage in actions that sustain such a blissful

experience.In ThiruvAimozhi , the subject of Taathparya RathnAvaLi ,

the inner meanings of the vedAs are revealed (i-e)., to gain

the Lord as parama purushArtham , when the Lord Himself stands

as the means (UpAyam). Swamy Desikan's statement elaborating

this insight is:

 

SvaprApthE SvayamEva saadhanatayaa jOgushyamANa:

Sruthou upAya: svaprApthE UpanishadhItha: Bhagavan

 

Thus the quintessential meaning of ThiruvAimozhi

is the same as the message of the VedAs. One is

in dEva BhAshai and the other is in Agasthya BhAshai

(Tamizh). Their messages are one and the same. Therefore ,

ThiruvAimozhi is considered the Saaram of the Four VedAs.

There is also a point of view that ThiruvAimozhi is the essence

of Saama Vedam ( Sahasra SakhOpanishad SamAgamam) . Saama Vedam

is mostly the setting of Rg Veda Manthrams to ghAnam (song/music).

Therefore Rg Vedam , the ancient Vedam is most crucial .

Rg Vedam has 21 saahkais ((branches).Yajur Vedam has 101 SaakhAis.

ATarava Vedam has 9 branches. Brahma Soothrams have 16 Paadhams

or Divisions .ATarva Vedam according to some is included in Rg

Vedam because both deal with Jn~Anam based on UpAsanai.ATarava Vedam

includes three observances: Saanthikam, Poushtikam and

AabhichArikam for gaining desired objectives in this world.

That is why many count the Vedams as Three and leave out

ATarvam .Inspite of this, one has to recognize that

ATarva Vedam declares unambiguously that Sriman NaarAyanan

is the Para Devathai. Therfore , we have to concede

that there are Four Vedams.

 

This 5th sOkam of DTR acknowledges that ThiruvAimozhi

is the SarVOpabrahmaNam of IthihAsam , PuRANams , Vedam ,

Smruthi and Brahma Soothrams . Sriman NaarAyaNan entered

the mind and Vaak of Swamy NammAzhwAr and flowed as

the abundant bhakthi-laden Paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi.

This was the Lord's answer to His dear Bhakthan , SaThakOpan

in response to his soul-stirring wail about the terrors of

SamsAram in Thiruviruttham.

 

The 5th slOkam of DTR commences with the word " Aadhou " .

Here the reference is to IthihAsa , PurANams that intrepret

the meaning of Vedams. " aadhou SaarIrakArTa Kramam iha

visEdham vidhathi: Vakthi " . In addition to having the UpabrahmaNam

features of IthihAsam and PurANams , ThiruvAimozhi includes

the meanings of SaarIrakam ( Brahman Soothrams) with their

VibhAgams of Sixteen .This is especially seen in the first 21

Paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi since they are the condensation of

the meanings of Sage VyAsA's Brahma Soothrams containing

the Four--Samanvaya, AvirOdha , Saadhana and Phala--adhyAyams

and sixteen paadhams.Swamy Desikan points this out elsewhere:

in this context :

 

" dhvikAbhyAm dhvyashtangri dhurathgamanIthisthaputithA " .

 

The meanings of the 16 Paadhams that has direct connection to

the subject matter of ThiruvAimozhi is given by Swamy Desikan in

his celebrated AdhikaraNa SaarAvaLi Sri Sookthi: " SrashtA dhEhi

SvanishtO niravadhi mahimA--- " .

 

The meanings of these 16 paadhams and four adhyAyams

are condensed tightly in the short span of the First

21 paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi by Swamy NammAzhwAr .

BhagavAn entered the ThiruvuLLam of SaThakOpan and

made it happen. The distillation of Vaidhika SiddhanthAm

is right here in these 21 paasurams covering the topics

of the 16 Paadhams.ThiruvAimozhi deals with PoorNa Para Tathtvam,

PoorNa Hitham and PoorNa PurushArtham according to

UtthamUr Swamy , whose commentaries adiyEn is following

closely .He elaborates these concepts in his Prabhandha

Rakshai ( Mudhal Patthu of ThiruvAimozhi).

 

In the 5th SlOkam of DTR , Swamy Desikan states that

ThiruvAimozhi is the SamkshEpam ( condensed essence) of

the 21 saakhais of Rg Vedam ( praayathi RuchAm ) ,

101 branched Yajur Vedam ,1000 branched Saama Vedam

and 9 branched ATarva Vedam ( ATarva Rasaisccha).

Rg Vedam is the oldest among the 4 vedams . Yajur

Vedam is known for the beauty of its Svarams during

recitation ( ChAru PaaDOpapannam). Saama Vedam is

known for its GhAnam /GhItham ( Samyak GhIthAnubhaddham

Sakalm anugatham Saama Saakha Sahasram ).ATarva Vedam is

known for housing the nine rasams (nine Saakhais).

 

UtthamUr Swamy refers to a manthram from PrasnOpanishad

dealing with PraNava BrahmOpAsanam (PBM). This manthram states

One Maathrai of PBM will yields the fruits desired in this

world (Immai) associated with Rg Vedam. The Two Maathri

PBM will yield MaRumal payankaL. The three Mathrai

PBM will lead to Moksha Phalan. ThiruvAimozhi containing

the distilled essence of the Four Vedams yields all

of the above fruits. " Muzhu Veda Vizhup PorUl " ( the complete

essence of the total VedAs ) is thus found in

ThiruvAimozhi paasurams of Swamy NammAzhwAr.This is

the essence of the 5th slOkam of DTR.

 

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SaThakOpan